


i loved you first

by soul_of_blaze



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Humanstuck, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-04-16
Updated: 2012-04-24
Packaged: 2017-11-03 18:13:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/384367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soul_of_blaze/pseuds/soul_of_blaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Egbert has been planning this for exactly three months and fourteen days. With the help of most of his friends, he is most definitely going to marry Karl Vantas.</p><p>What he did not plan was all the shenanigans that are bound to happen, because, after all, this is Karl we're talking about. John is sure that this whole fiasco is going to include: Slick trying to kill somebody, his own siblings somehow ruining his wedding (Jane needs to stop with this Betty Crocker business), Victoria being... herself, and various people being too drunk to even walk straight.</p><p>He isn't exactly sure if he's ready for all of that...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Karl is not good with people

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! And welcome to what, hopefully, will be my first successful mutlichapter fic. I hope you enjoy it!

Karl Vantas is seated on the couch, curled up under a blanket and laptop precariously balancing on his knees. He is, as the daily routine has practically become, scrolling through a blog site. It isn’t the most productive thing he could be doing, because he could be trying to find a job but it’s certainly what he’d rather be doing.

He is still scrolling through the site when the door opens and shuts within seconds. He barely glances up but he knows that it means his roommate is home and that he probably isn’t going to get finish blogging tonight.

Of course, he’s right when the other side of the couch dips a little and two paler arms than his wrap around his front. The darker boy pauses and then moves the cursor to exit out of his browser and leans back against his roommate.

“Karl! Guess what we’re doing today?”

“Watching a movie with Nic Cage in it, fuckface?” There’s a giggle from the other boy while Karl twists around to glare at him. “Well, I don’t really expect anything else from you.”

“No,” John laughs and presses his lips to Karl’s before pulling back to smile broadly again. “Kaya and Rose invited us to dinner! It’s like… a giant date, or something. I think Sol and Aria are gonna be there. Jade and Dave too.”

“Wow, John that is definitely what I need. Two assholes, my crazy ass best friend and two fucking insane girls. You know exactly what I need.”

John pouts at his boyfriend until his face softens and a soft huff puffs out against his face. “Fine. When are we going?”

“Now! Or, soon as I change and you too! Don’t worry, I already called a babysitter over for Casey. She’ll be over to pick her up soon. Now, dress nice, okay? Kaya wants us all to look nice tonight,” John manages to uproot Karl from the couch and untangle their limbs so that they can actually motivate. Else Karl will sit on the couch the rest of the night and John will be sucked into it with him.

It’s more of a dash than he expects, scrambling for nicer clothes and pulling a tie around his neck, tying it and watching John from the corner of his eye. The doorbell rings and his boyfriend pauses to frown at his pantsless legs. Karl groans but races down the stairs and practically rips the door off its hinges.

Victoria Serket stands in the doorway, one hand on her hip and smirking at him. Her shirt is too low and Karl focuses on her face while she peers into the house.

“Can I fucking help you, Serket?”

“Where’s my darling little girl, Karl? John said he needed a babysitter last minute and I’m always for taking care of her!” She cackles for a few moments and he groans but leaves the door to find Casey, who’s sitting in a chair in the library and playing with the cat.

“Casey. Your mom is here.”

The little blonde jumps up and races ahead of him toward the door. When he gets there, she’s wrapped herself around Victoria’s waist. The only thing the two shares is their blonde hair, as almost everything else is identical to John.

Speak of the devil, John comes hopping down the stairs and smiles wide when he sees Victoria. “Vicky! You came a bit early, but I guess Karl and I can leave a bit earlier than planned.” He gives her a hug and then leans down to pick Casey up to swing her around before she’s set back down in Victoria’s care. “Thanks again!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Victoria rolls her eyes before beginning to walk down the sidewalk. “I’ll see you guys later.”

After that, Karl lets John drive to their destination since he has no idea where they are going. When he sees it’s Olive Garden, he refuses to get out of the car. Kaya knows he hates said restaurant with a burning passion of a thousand suns.

But John, for some reason, somehow convinces him to go inside. Probably because, we’re friends with them Karl you have to at least appreciate that she invited us to dinner, and, we haven’t seen them in a month anyway.  The party name is apparently Maryam, which shouldn’t be a surprise since his best friend is the one with the most money out of everyone. The table is packed and he groans as John shoves him into a seat next to Sol and he sits between himself and Jade. Straight across from Karl, Kaya smiles warmly at him and he glares at her hand wrapped up in Rose’s.

Dinner is fairly uneventful, Kaya telling them about her new line of dresses and Rose talking about her most recent published book. Both of which he has already seen, when they were in production months ago. Half way through dinner, John suddenly stops eating and begins to freak out.

“I forgot my wallet in the car! I’ll just go get it… I can do that, right, Kaya?”

“John, I can just pay for-”

“No, Karl, you don’t need to spend money on me if I can pay for it myself! I will be right back, I promise,” and then he’s darting out from the restaurant and Karl turns to glare at the rest of the table. Sol snorts from beside him and Jade frowns, but literally the rest of the table is smiling too widely at him.

John is back within minutes, his hair a bit windswept but other than that he looks a bit more relieved. Towards the end of dinner, he suddenly stands up. Karl sighs and looks up to glare at him. The rest of the table is quiet, everyone just staring at the duo. The entirety of the restaurant is also calming down, most of the other customers turning to stare at his idiot boyfriend.

“Karl.”

“John, what the fuck are you doing.”

His face is deadpan but he stands up in hopes to intimidate the derp of his live to sit back down and finish dinner. Instead, John gets a wide smile on his face and drops to one knee. This freaks Karl out. He wants everything to stop, for John to stand up and they can just leave the restaurant and go home.

Once again, the boy disappoints him as he fishes in his pocket and pulls out a small velvet box. And Karl is definitely going to kill John Egbert. That is his next plan but he doesn’t really get a chance to think it over because suddenly there are words coming out of his mouth and wow, he should probably be listening.

“Karl Vantas, will you marry me?”

Oh _fuck._

He isn’t exactly sure what happens, but he knows he says yes and then there’s some kissing, he thinks and then suddenly they’re all standing in the lobby of Olive Garden. Kaya and Rose are talking softly, both smiling like retarded idiots. Karl is trapped sitting between Sol and Dave while Jade and Aria talk off to the side. John isn’t there.

But then he is, coming out of the bathroom and smiling wide as he comes toward Karl.

“Well, better make room for Prince Charming, Sol. Can’t compete with the Prince of Derp here,” Dave’s comment is either snide or he is just making fun but either way, Karl just wants to collapse in his bed right now.

Sol chuckles as he stands up. “Like I’d want to, right, KL?”

Karl manages to grumble back at the two but he’s so out of it that the journey home is just as much of a blur. He briefly remembers seeing Victoria dropping off Casey and John talking to her for a few minutes and John coming in a bit later and Casey must be tucked in.

His.. fiancé presses a chaste kiss to his lips and curls up next to him under the covers. Karl’s dreams are plagued by crazy spider bitches, himself in wedding dresses and one angry father.

\--

When he wakes up, John isn’t in bed but then again the other boy has always been an early riser. He goes to brush his teeth and maybe take a shower but all thoughts are discarded when he looks down as his hands. And there it is. Slipped delicately onto his left hand’s fourth finger like it has always been there.

It sort of freaks him out.

Out of it enough, he wanders into the kitchen. John is at the stove, flipping pancakes onto a plate and Casey sits at the table, already immersing herself in eating the pancakes. It comes as no surprise. John makes the best pancakes… and generally any of the food he makes is the best either of them will ever eat. Except maybe John’s younger sister’s cooking, but then again, she is in charge of a fucking baking empire.

Karl shakes it off and sits down across from Casey, whose face is covered in syrup. John comes to the table a few moments later, a big smile plastered on his face while he sets a plate in front of Karl and then squeezes next to him with another plate. He just looks like a big dummy to Karl but he indulges in the other by beginning to eat and watch John dig in much less gracefully.

“How are my two favorite people in the whole wide world?” The cheesiest way to start off the day, is the Egbert way as he leans over to poke Casey in the nose. She giggles.

“I’m good, Daddy! Mom and I went to see a movie last night. It was good!”

“That’s great,” he laughed. “Movies are the best way to spend time with your mom!”

Karl frowns but continues to eat until he can feel two sets of eyes staring him down. He glances up to see identical blue eyes gazing curiously at him. Great. “What?”

“Karl, how are you?”

“I’m… fine?” And suddenly the ring on his finger feels like a giant weight and he drops his hand to the table. John shrugs and goes back to eating. Though the rest of breakfast is quiet, Karl suddenly stops mid pancake shoveling into his mouth. Fuck.

He has to call his father. It’s not like he hasn’t talked to Slick in the past few moments, because if he doesn’t check up on him, he won’t know if his father is still alive. Mobsters don’t exactly get found or get reported lost. Not around here or anyone else for that matter.

John sets down his fork and turns to raise his eyebrows at Karl. “What’s up?”

“..I have to call Slick,” he groans and then almost slams his face into the syrup pancake mix but John stops him.

“OH! About the engagement, huh? Well, what’s the problem… isn’t it time for you to check up on him anyway?”

Karl shakes his head but stands up and looks through some of their belonging that are emptied onto the couch while John picks up Casey. He finds his phone and stalks back into the kitchen to see John handing Casey over to Jane, who somehow arrived and came inside during the short time he was looking for his phone.

While he dials Slick’s number, John strikes up a conversation with his younger sister.

“Hey! Karl and I are thinking of having a dinner with Dad and everyone, I think maybe Sunday night,” John sounds just a bit too excited about the prospects of dinner with his family, but Karl ignores it for the bigger question. He did not plan a dinner Sunday. What the hell, John?

“Certainly! I would be happy to attend a dinner with the family… Oh! Do you need me to tell Jake?” Jane is strangely overly happy like John, and she claps her hands together while smiling. Actually, Karl is pretty sure their whole family is way too fucking happy all the time.

John nods and Jane smiles as she pulls Casey along outside and disappears into the fog that is already covering the morning. Karl, phone still in hand and about to press call, glares at him.

“Dinner?”

“Well, why not?” John walks back over to the table to take care of the plates. “I think it’s a better way to let my family know and maybe your dad too! Plus they all need to get acquainted. Being relatives soon and all, it’ll be good for them!”

Karl groaned before pressing the call button and waiting for Slick to pick up.

 _“’Lo?”_ Karl recognized the voice right away, not as his father’s but as Droog’s.

“Droog. Nice to fucking hear from you and all but I need to talk to Slick.”

 _“No can do, kid. He’s a bit… tied up,”_ there was a laugh on the other line and Karl groaned before sighing.

“I don’t fucking give a shit. Just let me talk to him. Hold the phone to his ear or something, I don’t know.”

There was a rather long pause and then Slick’s voice came onto the other line. Karl had a few moments to collect himself before blurting out words barely connected.

“Dad.”

_“Kid, what the fuck?”_

“I.. uh.. I’m getting married in a few months.”

There was a laugh on the other end and then Slick didn’t respond for a few moments. The line picked up again. _“Wait, are you serious?”_

Karl sighed through his nose before answering yes.

_“Shit, kid. Who is it? Oh, I bet it’s Snowman’s kid. Teri, right? Sweet girl, definitely fits you better than that girl you dated during school. I’m proud a ya kid, you know your old man-”_

“How about you just fucking come over on Sunday for dinner, ok?”

There was a pause and then he heard a snort but it was confirmation and he slammed the phone on the table.

John patted him awkwardly on the back.


	2. Chapter 2

The phone has been used to call approximately four people so far and Karl just wants John to stop talking to his family. It would be so much easier; this dinner that is taking place tomorrow, if the other boy didn’t have to invite his whole goddamn family. Not that it matted, because his father’s reaction would probably still be the same. And he wasn’t exactly ready for that.

John shifts and gives him a smile while he listens to whoever the hell he is talking to on the phone.

“No, but I think you shouldn’t bring him… But! I understand that, Jade, but I want this to be a family thing. It’d be like if Jake brought Dirk or if Jane brought Roxy!” John let out a laugh and Karl was only slightly relived that he was talking to Jade. “Well, this is for me and Karl, if he wasn’t there… Okay, but see, you don’t need Dave with you every step of your life, I think you can give him a night away!”

After that, John hangs up the phone and leans back against the counter, making a face. Karl snorts. “It’s your own fault; if you’re going to invite your whole fucking family to a dinner like it’s the last supper. Acting like if you don’t have them all inside literally the smallest house in the universe that they’ll all die by some horrible death because you couldn’t get them inside. Fuck, are we all going to die in the night and only you know it? Should I be preserving food and shit, making sure we don’t starve while the end of world is-”

He recalls a giggle interrupting parts of his rant but the more profound interruption is John leaning over and kissing him. He recuperates the kiss and threads his fingers into the other’s hair, chuckling against his lips. John pokes at his stomach with a few fingers, but his other hand slides down Karl’s back and rests contentedly just on his behind.

  They stand in content for a few moments, before Karl suddenly pulls away. He curses and fishes his phone out of his pocket. John raises his eyebrows in a questioning gesture while the other scrolls through his phone.

“I fucking forgot that I promised I would meet Kaya at her stupid café boutique or whatever the hell that place is today. I have to go now, or she’ll probably throw a fit at me later…” he rubs awkwardly at his lips before sighing. “I’ll be back later, John. I’m sorry.”

John blinked in surprise, but followed Karl as he went to slip on his shoes. He leaned against the wall while Karl tugged his shoes on completely.

“Why do you have to go see her today? I.. I left Casey to Jane so we could spend today together…” John stared at the ground in slight disappointment. Karl frowned and felt his stomach clench for a moment before he pulled the other boy into a hug.

“Look, I told her… when we were younger, I told her that if I ever got married, she was going to be the one to plan and design the whole thing…” he turned a bit red, hiding his face in John’s shoulder. “She pretty much fucking demanded that I keep my ‘promise’ or so she called it. She blabbered on about how this was especially important since I was.. marrying you..”

John pulls him back and peers at the reddened face. Then, a smile split his face. “Karl! That’s… sweet. I think it’s cool if Kaya helps plan the wedding, because I wasn’t sure how to do any of this stuff. But, um,” John frowned and let go of Karl’s shoulders. “Can I come with you? I think I need to discuss some stuff with her.. Who knows what she is going to try and do!”

Karl snorts slightly, hiding his face as he turns and marches outside. “Yeah, yeah, what the fuck ever, just hurry up.”

\--

John keeps peeking into the kitchen, but each time, Kaya shoos him unhappily back into the dining room where Casey, Karl, Jake and Jane are sitting. He stands in the archway, watching his fiancé interact with his younger siblings. Jane is obviously talking about CrockerCorp, the way she is smiling widely and waving her hands around. Jake is laughing, bouncing Casey on his knees. Karl looks out of it, like he’s trying his best to interact with but he can’t.

A few moments of watching him suffer under the talkative and curious stares of the two, John jets into the conversation, interrupting his sister while wrapping an arm around Karl’s shoulders.

“Hey! Don’t leave me out of the conversation, what are you talking about?” He rests his hand on the other boy’s arm while Jane brightens up and Jake breaks into more chuckles.

“So, that old witch, you know who I’m talking about dear, she finally ‘croaked’ by which I mean, I’m in official control of CrockerCorp! Isn’t that exciting?” Jane claps her hands together. “I’ll be quite busy soon.”

Just as John began to reply, the doorbell rung a few times, quickly following the last one to have rung. He turned to stare slightly at the door. Jade and his dad were in the library, talking about something or other. Then his eyes widened. “Oh, Karl, your dad must be here!”

He’s up in whirlwind, muttering ‘fuck’ under his breath and pushing John into a chair as he runs toward the door. John blinks but turns back to Jane and continues discussing her new inheritance of the CrockerCorp.

Karl opens the door slowly, bracing himself for seeing his father after a long time of not even trying to contact him. Slick somehow knows where he lives, and though he tries not to question it, he has to put it to Kaya meddling like she always does. He expects Slick to have, god forbid, Snowman with him. He’s pretty sure they’re in some sort of weird hate relationship, which really crept him out when he was younger.

When he finally opens the door, what he sees is his father wearing his mobster suit, thankfully.. and.. there is a petite, young woman hanging on his arm. She’s quite pretty, blonde hair peeking out from under a sort of head wrap, the rest of her outfit just as colorful. She is practically radiating, making Slick look a bit better in comparison to how he normally looked.

“Uh,” Karl started, eyes narrowing in confusion. “Hey, Slick…” he stares at the woman and backs up to let them inside. Slick makes a few snide comments, but his son is too busy staring at the woman he doesn’t recognize. Kaya comes from the kitchen, frowning while she dries her hands on a towel.

“Oh, Slick. I was wondering who was here. Please, take off your shoes. This may not be my home, but I will not have you tracking any of whatever may be on the bottom of your shoes in here,” Slick makes a face at her but complies and shucks his shoes off into the already gathered pile of shoes. “I must insist, madam, that you follow suit. Dinner shall be ready soon.”

Karl glares at her retreating back before turning to stare at his father and his… lady friend, he guesses. There’s an awkward moment before the woman goes to open her mouth and John is suddenly by his side. Slick gives him a suspicious look though the woman smiles.

“Hey! You’re Karl’s dad, right?” He sticks his hand out and Karl groans. “I’m John!” When Slick doesn’t reach out to shake his hand, John retreats it reluctantly. “And who’s this?”

“Oh,” her voice is quiet, but not timid. “I’m… well, you can call me Ms. Paint.”

“Aw, that seems too formal,” John breaks into a smile. “What’s your first name?”

“Dalia, if you really must know,” she frowns slightly but it doesn’t appear to be bad. “I don’t mean to be rude, but that young lady did say it was almost time for dinner, yes?”

“Oh!” He jumped and then motioned toward the dining room entrance. “Sorry, she didn’t say anything to us about it. Come on into the dining room, I want you to meet everyone! Oh, I’ve got to get Jade and Dad… Karl, take them into the dining room, alright?” And he runs down the hall towards the library while Karl frowns and leads his father and friend into the dining room.

It’s chaos once dinner starts, John not knowing how to sit people together. Karl is sitting between John and his own father, Slick sitting next to Mr. Egbert, Dalia, Kaya seated  next to her, Jade at the head of the table, with Casey at her other side, Jake squeezed in-between her and Jane. He regrets this all now, because Slick won’t stop criticizing everything and glaring daggers at John.

It’s like he knows. No, Karl is almost completely assured that his father has figured it out. Once Kaya has set everything out, plates filled with food that she has decided everyone would enjoy, he shifts to stare at John.

John glances up and then smiles, his buck teeth coming over his lips. Karl sighs and then stands up, listening to everyone slowly stop talking.

“Look, I have a fucking announcement, alright?” He stares down most of them, though his eyes dart toward Kaya and Jade, who are both smiling happily. Great. “Now that you’ve all shut up…” he took a deep breath and took the dive. “I’m sure half of you know why we’re here tonight, but in case some of you didn’t get the message John and I were trying to send out… We’re getting fucking married sometime in the next few months. Whoop-de-doo, I know, I know. More importantly, we thought it’d be a good idea to let you all know together, as one assembly. Probably to work out some problems or something, I don’t know, I didn’t really plan this.”

Dinner is quiet after that, no one striking up too much conversation, though Jane continually asks if she can make the wedding cake for the reception. John gives in to it eventually, though he seems reluctant. By the end of the night, Karl is pretty sure that he’s been accepted by Mr. Egbert and the other two Egbert siblings, though he can’t say the same for John being accepted by Slick.

Everyone is leaving, Kaya going out the door just as Slick finally puts his shoes on while Dalia talks happily to John.

“Look, dad…”

“Shut up, kid. You think I care about you fucking decide t’ spend the rest of yer life with as long as yer happy?” There’s a pause as Karl lets out a breath he feels like he’s been holding onto all night. “There more t’ me than just yer big old mobster dad. I.. care about you, kid,” he made a frown of his mouth.  Karl frowned back at him until Dalia made her way and put her shoes on.

“We have to be off now, but it was nice to meet both of you! I’m sure Mr. Slick also thinks too, John!” They disappear into the night short after.

Karl collapses on their bed, moaning into the pillows. John slides onto the bed next to him and grumbled into his shoulder, before biting it.

“Ow! What the fuck, John?”

“You’re always such a grumpy puss! C’mon, it wasn’t that bad and your dad seemed about as accepting as it can get! And his girlfriend was really nice,” he curled his fingers around Karl’s sides and managed to turn him over. “You shouldn’t stress about this, it looks like everything is going over fine.”

Karl glared at John and grabbed a pillow to slam into John’s face. The other boy spluttered but laughed and leaned down to plant a kiss past the pillow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully this is going well to those who are reading it so far! i'm having fun writing it myself. I'd say expect updates during the beginning of the week usually. Thanks for reading!


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